by Eve van den Bol From CIEF

Despite restrictions caused by Covid-19, the Caribbean Equestrian Association (CEA) was able to hold its 2020 Caribbean Dressage Challenge with modified rules. The results were just announced and all four of Cayman's junior riders competing at USEF Training Level Test 3 placed in the top half of the class of 18 competitors: Marley Trench riding Gitana RDL, was the top junior rider from Cayman finishing in 2nd among Caribbean riders. Ava Law riding Joey tied for 4th place, followed by Olivia Ziemniak on Kartouche in 7th and Madison Ameline riding Blue Ridge Dream On in 9th. In the Junior Team competition which consists of the top three finishers overall for each country, Cayman placed 2nd on the strong performances of Trench, Law and Ziemniak.

In the adult category, Jessica McTaggart won at FEI Intermediate 1 with a score of 68.09% which was the highest score of any rider in the Caribbean performing an FEI test, which is the level of recognized international competition. Also notable was junior rider Kayla Mannisto's debut on her new horse at USEF 2nd Level.

The Caribbean Dressage Challenge enables riders from CEA member countries to compete against each other without having to travel with their horse. Normally, the judge travels from island to island, scoring each competitor’s ride live at an officially organized horse show in each country. Since the judge could not travel this year due to the pandemic, each competitor's ride was recorded under otherwise normal competition conditions, and the recordings were sent to the judge, Heather Stalker (USEF – R) of the United States.

The Cayman leg of the CEA Dressage Challenge is also scored as a competition among local equestrians. Winners of each class in the local competition, in decreasing order of difficulty were:

Jessica McTaggart and Marley Trench were named High Point Champion Adult and Junior with scores of 68.09% and 70.86% respectively for the Cayman leg of the CEA Dressage.

The competition calendar for the Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation can be found on its website, ciefcay.com, under the Events tab in the main menu. CIEF events are always open to interested spectators and admission is free.

Photo credits: Eve van den Bol